1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to control of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), tracking moving targets, surveilling areas, stationary targets and moving targets, protecting assets and people, and providing communications between individuals or groups.
2. Description of Related Art
Aerial surveillance and tracking includes the use of unmanned air vehicles. Currently, human operators remotely control UAVs. The operators must steer both the UAV and the camera/surveillance payload in order to maintain tracking and positive identification of a moving target. Positive identification may require no interruptions or obstructions in visual observation of the target. This practice is labor intensive, and therefore expensive. Usually two operators track a single target, enabling one operator to control flight and the other operator to control camera pointing, focus, zoom, etc. And in military applications involving high value targets, such as known terrorists, usually two UAVs are dedicated to the target, thus requiring four operators. Remotely controlling UAVs with human operators is also prone to loss of positive identification due to bad vehicle position or bad camera angle. Current methods also do not adequately support real time collection of target attribute data. In addition, the operators must pay special attention to no fly zones, restricted airspace and obstructions, further increasing the difficulty of maintaining an uninterrupted track.